"Wikipedia calls itself the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit, which is another way of saying it is not fact-checked" (NPR article on Wikipedia). Wikipedia is usually the first source to come up on a search, yet people hardly ever use Wikipedia as a source of information. Wikipedia especially cannot be used as a source of information for school-related papers or projects because of Wikipedia's credibility. Wikipedia does not have credibility like other scholarly sources because anybody can edit information to Wikipedia.
Wikipedia's reputation is not credited because it is known for articles or information not being factual. Anybody reading Wikipedia can go and edit anything to any piece of information. Numerous companies such as Walmart and Diebold have been found to edit pieces of information on them to make themselves look better. Wikipedia cannot be trusted like a normal scholarly source that is based on facts alone. When people, especially from their own companies or groups of interest, can make changes for themselves, then the information is not reliable because it is biased. Biased information does not provide anybody with good, creditable information because the information is coming from one side only. Wikipedia should never be able to be used in a scholastic paper, project, debate, etc nor should it be used in any business function such as a meeting. Wikipedia is just not a trusted source of information; therefore, Wikipedia cannot be used in a professional way.
They only time Wikipedia should be used or can be used is if somebody wants to take information that may or may not be true and use it in his/her everyday life. If somebody agrees with information from Wikipedia then he/she could use it for his/her own personal satisfaction, but as far as being reputable, Wikipedia cannot be a trusted source of information. "Don't trust what you read on Wikipedia because you just don't know where that information came from" (NPR blog on Wikipedia). If Wikipedia wants to be known as a credible site then they must find a way to not allow people to edit information. Until just anybody cannot edit information, Wikipedia will continue to not be a trusted source of information.
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I think your statement that Wikipedia can't be trusted is very broad. Wikipedia isn't perfect, but neither is any other website. You should always read with a critical eye. But you should never use an encyclopedia as an official source for school work. That goes for any other encyclopedia as well as for Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteDo you know how Wikipedia works? Do you know that a lot of people spend time removing vandalism and typos, put articles in categories, and do other kinds of maintenance work on it? I'd be lying if I said all that worked perfectly and kept all errors and biases out of Wikipedia, but it contributes a whole lot to making Wikipedia as relatively good as it actually is.
There are vandals on Wikipedia. There are cases where companies and groups try to edit articles to suit themselves. But most of the contributors on Wikipedia are honest enthusiasts who write on Wikipedia because it's interesting and fun. Most of them aren't professors and experts (although some are), but most of them are still able to contribute in a valuable way.
"Don't trust what you read on Wikipedia because you just don't know where that information came from". Well, if the Wikipedia articles are any good (which more and more of them are), they will have links to sources for the facts. Then the statement that you don't know where the information came from, is simply wrong. Go on to the sources and check them out. You shouldn't use Wikipedia or any other encyclopedia as a direct source for any school work, but you could use some of the sources that tne encyclopedia articles are built on.